Chata Pod Lipami

“Recommended”

We arrived to Rokytnice with my 2 more friends. Everyone liked it here the place, service was great and the breakfast. If you wanna go here for a family trip then I can only recommend to you. Surely we will come back again on Winter.

“Slightly tired budget accommodation - staff warmed up after we were nice to them.”

We booked this place because the accommodation we've used before was full (Czech school holidays) and there was very little choice - they only offer half board, though we would have preferred B&B. Our travel arrangements meant that we (4 adults, 4 kids) were arriving late at night from Prague whic… lisää

We booked this place because the accommodation we've used before was full (Czech school holidays) and there was very little choice - they only offer half board, though we would have preferred B&B. Our travel arrangements meant that we (4 adults, 4 kids) were arriving late at night from Prague which we explained in an e-mail and was apparently fine (we also explained that we had a vegetarian with us - also, apparently, fine - more later). When we got to the hotel some of the staff were in the bar drinking but there were no other guests around - one off them said "you're late". We were asked to pay the balance of the fee in cash immediately. We had assumed that we could use a card for this, but apparently not. To start with they maintained that we couldn't stay unless we paid in full despite the fact that we were with kids it was 10:30 on Sunday evening up a mountain, and in fact we had paid 20% deposit to make the booking. Eventually common sense prevailed and we were shown to our rooms on condition that we would pay in cash in full the next day. Not an auspicious start to the holiday. The next morning we went down to a busy dining room to a breakfast buffet that was not at all bad if you chose wisely from amongst the cheap but plentiful ingredients. Looking around the hotel it became clear that the publicity photos on the website were taken some time ago. Many of the fixtures and fittings and decor are a little tired and basic. Also the website boast that "we speak your language" - they don't, unless it is Czech. Because we were a group of eight it wasn't too difficult to amuse ourselves and find some humour in the basic nature of the accommodation and we also made an attempt to charm the staff by trying out our appalling Czech and smiling a lot. Luckily this seemed to work and over the course of our stay the staff warmed up remarkably towards us (especially when we handed over the rest of the money) and were in fact being very pleasant by the end of the week. As regards the evening meals, clearly the staff at the hotel had no idea that we had a vegetarian with us and couldn't really cope except by offering cheese to go with whatever carbs were on the menu (there were very few vegetables at all for any of us). That aside though, the food was actually quite good. Each day there was a choice of two soups (all really nice) followed by a choice of three mains (a lot of carbs and a little meat) which were tasty and sufficient for refuelling after a day's skiing. A couple of other points worth noting - this hotel is advertised as ski-in ski-out, but it does not connect very well with the main resort unless you are a reasonably competent skier - to ski back in the evening you need to take a red run and a downhill cross country trail to get back from the main slopes. Also the manager of the hotel did not know how to do this! We had to work it out for ourselves - she explained "we're all new here" (which might also explain their nervousness about letting us stay without full payment etc.) And finally - the shower in our rooms was intermittent. Sometimes it was fine but at other times (I guess when others were showering) it simply stopped working for a while, which was slightly inconvenient if you happened to be covered in soap. So in summary, although this place had it's faults (and I can see why it has some bad reviews) we did actually have quite a nice week at Chata Pod Lipami - the beer was cheap, the fire was warm and we maintained the well known British method of keeping buggering on. Note to the management (if they're reading this): I think the staff were actually working very hard, but were a bit let down by the overall run-down nature of the place. It really needs updated plumbing, a bit of redecoration and preferably a few higher quality breakfast ingredients, which would make life easier for them and better for the guests - then really I'd have few complaints.

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